Lifelong Leominster residents join police

LEOMINSTER -- The City Council appointed two lifelong residents as permanent police officers and approved transferring the money to bring them on board.

Jose Torres, who worked as a dispatcher in Fitchburg, and Valentine Vautour, who is two courses away from earning a master's degree in criminal justice at Anna Maria College, were part of a group of five recruits from Leominster to enter the training.

The other three did not make it past the first day, Torres said. Vautour is one of three women in the class of more than 40. The two candidates were approved unanimously.

Councilors approved a transfer within the Police Department budget of $40,000 that is intended to cover physicals, psychological tests, tuition and other expenses related to new officers.

Councilor-at-large James Lanciani was the lone vote against the transfer.

The council did not know how much money had been expended on the three recruits who did not make it through the training.

"I just would like to know a little more," Lanciani said.

The worst thing that could happen is that if the transferred money is not spent, it will come back as free cash, Ward 3 Councilor David Cormier said.

Also Monday night, two changes to street parking were approved unanimously. The area in front of St. Anna Rectory on Lancaster Street will change from no parking to 30-minute parking, and the 15-minute parking spots in front of the post office will be changed to 30 minutes.

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Other matters discussed by the council were given further time in order to get more input and information.

The owner of a building most recently used as an automobile-repair shop, at 220 Litchfield Ave., requested a modification of the zoning map. The building is currently in a residential area. The requested modification would extend the industrial zone across the street to include the parcel.

Patrick McCarty of McCarty Engineering, a civil-engineering firm in Leominster, spoke for the owner. The building was originally constructed for the telephone company before the abutting multifamily dwellings were built.

The owner does not have any immediate plans for the building but wants to rezone it to make it more attractive to potential buyers.

"It's strictly forward thinking," McCarty said.

The small size of the building, under 8,000 square feet, would limit future uses, he said.

The legal-affairs subcommittee will discuss the petition at a later date.

The special-permit process would reveal the purpose of a new business and whether it could work in a residential zone.

The city passed new zoning ordinances recently, Ward 4 Councilor Wayne Nickel said. "I'd like an opportunity to go to committee."

Proposed zoning changes to accommodate a medical-marijuana facility are still under discussion. The council scheduled a hearing for March 10.

A petition from Mayor Dean Mazzarella to adopt an ordinance for securing and maintaining vacant and foreclosed properties was given further time.

The legal-affairs subcommittee recommended sending a letter to the law firm of Kopelman and Paige asking for a recommendation comparing the proposed ordinance with an ordinance from Framingham.

"The sooner we can get something going with this, the better off we're going to be," Nickel said.

Once the council has approved the final form of the ordinance, it should move ahead quickly, said Councilor-at-Large John Dombroski, chairman of the legal-affairs subcommittee. "We should get the first reading of the final ordinance quickly."

Another petition to accept F & L Road as a public way was also given further time.

The Planning Board mentioned "a whole host of concerns regarding the history of the project," Nickel said.

It is not clear who the legal owner of the road is. It was once owned by the F & L Street Railway and before that by the Fitchburg Consolidated.

"Ultimately, to accept this street we're going to need a title," Bodanza said.

The street is not even on the city's list of unaccepted roads, Cormier said. "I think it's so old, it's totally forgotten about."

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